By Staff
Reporter ZIMBABWEAN
President Robert Mugabe has been mourning his reclusive brother who
died from a combination of heart problems, diabetes and hypertension
on Saturday.

Born in 1926, Donato
Mugabe was barely exposed to the public. So anonymous he was in life
that a Google search yields no result.

He was buried in
Zvimba on Monday.

Mugabe, known to
be fiercely secretive about his private life, used his brother's death
to open up on his late father Gabriel Mugabe Matibiri, whom he rarely
mentions in public.

In contrast, Mugabe
has never wasted an opportunity to remember his mother, Bona, who was
left with the task of raising the family when his father left for Bulawayo
where he married another woman and had three children.

Mugabe described
his late brother as "more practical", while he sees himself
as "much more bookish".

Mugabe told mourners
at his rural Zvimba home: "We take it as an act of God. No matter
how lovely a relative can be, when their time comes, they go."

Mugabe revealed
his father and mother married in 1918, and their first child - Michael
-- was born a year later, followed by Raphael in 1922. Raphel died six
months later. Robert Mugabe was born in 1924, two years ahead of Donato.

In his first public
comments about events leading to his father's decision to leave the
family and settle in Bulawayo, Mugabe revealed his father had been upset
when Michael died of poisoning in 1934. He did not explain who poisoned
his brother.

Mugabe said once
in Bulawayo, his father took up jobs as a carpenter and farm labourer
before marrying a second wife. He had three children with his new wife,
Mugabe revealed, although two -- David and Albert -- have died. Regina
Gata is the survivor.

Seemingly intent
on quashing widespread public opinion that he never forgave his father,
Mugabe said he had in fact returned to the family in 1944 before dying
a year later.

"He came back
on the eve of his death," he said in comments reported in state
media. "Of all the fathers who went to Bulawayo, there was no one
who was as wise as my father."